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In:Why Gesture?: How the hands function in speaking, thinking and communicating
Edited by Ruth Breckinridge Church, Martha W. Alibali and Spencer D. Kelly
[Gesture Studies 7] 2017
► pp. 397–412

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Chapter 18
So how does gesture function in speaking, communication, and thinking?

 | Northeastern Illinois University
 | University of Chicago
Published online: 26 April 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/gs.7.19chu
Abstract
This concluding chapter reflects on the book’s collected works that encapsulate, in the Aristotelian sense, gesture’s efficient causes (i.e., mechanisms that stimulate gesture) and its final causes (i.e., purposes that gesture serves). We conclude that gesture is multifunctional, operating on all levels of analysis (biological, psychological, and social levels), in all time frames (moment-to-moment, ontogenetic, and evolutionary time) and under many different discourse requirements. One over-arching theme emerges. Gesture functions simultaneously for both its producers and its observers, and thus provides a dual function that shapes thinking and language in the producer, which, in turn, shapes thinking and language in the observer – a process that underlies how we share ideas and create community.
Article outline
  • Gesture functions at many levels of analysis
    • Neurological evidence
    • Psychological evidence
    • Social evidence
  • Gesture functions in all time frames
    • Moment-to-moment
    • Developmental time frame
    • Evolutionary time frame
  • Methods for understanding the functions of gesture
    • Manipulating the presence or absence of gesture
    • Variation in context
    • Variation in task
  • Gesture supports speech for the producer as well as the observer
  • References
References (51)
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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